YouTube transcript

YouTube already stores captions next to a lot of videos. This page pulls that file and gives you the words.

No account. Five videos an hour. We read captions — we don't listen to the audio.

How to get a YouTube transcript

1. 1Paste the YouTube URL.
2. 2Press Get transcript.
3. 3Copy the words, or download TXT, SRT, VTT, or JSON.

You also get

• Copy. One click. Running text you can paste into notes, a doc, or another tool.
• Files. TXT for reading. SRT and VTT for editors. JSON if you want the cues as data. All free.
• Search. Find a line in a two-hour talk without scrubbing the timeline.

Why you'd want the words

Sometimes the video isn't the useful part. You need a quote, notes, or something you can paste somewhere else. YouTube's own transcript sits under the description on desktop. You can read it there. You can't take it with you as a file, and on a phone it's basically useless.

If you take notes

Watching and typing at the same time is miserable. Get the transcript, copy the bits you need, done.

Want a summary or a quiz? Paste the text into ChatGPT or whatever you already use. We don't do that here. We give you the words.

If you make things from videos

Show notes, a post from a line that landed, a write-up of a talk. Start from the transcript instead of rewatching.

• Quote it. Copy the exact wording.
• Reuse it. Blog, newsletter, description — you already have the sentences.
• Hand it off. Someone who prefers reading gets the words, not a 40-minute tab.

When it won't work

No captions on the video means nothing to fetch. Age-restricted, private, live, and deleted videos fail too. Turning CC off in the player is fine — that only hides the overlay.